It's been a month since the Tear of Yokohama was stolen from under the noses of the Milky Holmes Detective Agency by Lady Arsene and her Gentleman Thieves. In the process, the four girls of the Agency also lost their Toys - psychic abilities that they'd been able to use in investigations, made them stand out from others and that earned them their places at the Holmes Detective Academy. With their abilities gone, was there even a future for Milky Holmes? Or the girls' Academy careers? Not if Arsene and her henchmen, who've infiltrated the Academy just waiting for this day, get their chance... Utimately, Milky Holmes is a magical girl series, and come the end of this episode the girls, having lost their powers, have been given three months to get them back. That's conveniently one cour in Japanese airtime, which is how long the series is scheduled to run for. See what they've done there? Under normal circumstances, I'm a sucker for magical girls, but there are a few things about this one that don't work well for me. Right up front is the girls' motivation for getting their powers back - not to be the best, not to prove themselves, but to get back all the perks they had while they had their powers that allowed them to lord it over the "normal" students. Let's get my special bed back! Let's get my special meals back! Here's an idea for them: stop being so damned selfish & privileged, and see what happens (and I admit, there's a chance that that's going to be the lesson the girls have to learn over the course of the series) - but as they stand, these are not heroines that I'd want acting as role models for my kids. Two, they're just not likeable. I'd go so far as to say the villains of the show - Lady Arsene and her Gentlemen Thieves - are far more enjoyable to watch, as they have a strong line in eccentric behaviours that's simply funny. Milky Holmes? Nope - too busy bitching over whose fault it was that they failed their aptitude test, or bemoaning the loss of their favourite cut of roast pork. Sorry, but that's just not entertaining. The Good: The bad guys. Seriously. I'm going to spend most of the series hoping that the Gentleman Thieves hand Milky Holmes their arses on a weekly basis - which is probably a recipe for disappointment, but I'm suffering that already, so no loss there... The Bad: Pretty much everything else. Little asides like people pointing out to half-naked teachers that "Sensei, your nipples are hard" don't help (this is a kids' show - states of arousal really shouldn't come into it). Meh. And I say that in the most heartfelt possible way. Milky Holmes is only scheduled for 12 episodes, so I may try and stick out a few more episodes to see if it improves, but initial impressions aren't good. (UPDATE: Okay, I could've sworn when I first wrote this that the show was in a 6/7am timeslot in Japan. But I see now that it airs between 11pm and 4am, depending on where in Japan you're talking, so picking on the non-kid-friendly aspects of it is maybe a bit harsh. The general criticism stands, though.)
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